CALGARY, Alta. – Hockey Canada has announced the selection of 21 players to Canada’s National Women’s Development Team travelling to Füssen, Germany, to compete at the 2018 Nations Cup Jan. 3-6, 2018.

The Nations Cup – previously hosted under the names Air Canada Cup, MLP Cup, and Meco Cup – features Canada’s National Women’s Development Team as well as national teams from Finland, Germany, Russia, Sweden, and Switzerland this year for four days of competition.

“Following a very successful summer camp where we had the opportunity to play teams from U SPORTS and Japan, we continued to evaluate players as they embarked on regular season action with their club teams to come to this group of players who will represent Canada at the Nations Cup,” said Kingsbury, a two-time Olympic gold-medallist for Canada in women’s hockey. “These players are part of the up-and-coming Canadian talent that we are tracking as we look towards next year’s IIHF Women’s World Championship and beyond to the 2022 Games. To be able to provide opportunities for them to play high-level, international events like the Nations Cup is invaluable for them as players, and for us as a management group as we continue to build our pipeline to Canada’s National Women’s Team.”

The roster, consisting of two goaltenders, seven defencemen, and 12 forwards, includes:

Four players who skated to silver at the 2017 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship (Bell, Maltais, Potomak, Shirley); and

Two players who will make their debut with Team Canada in international competition (Deguire, Shelton).

Canada will open the 2018 Nations Cup against Finland at 9 a.m. ET/6 a.m. PT on Jan. 3. The schedule also has the team facing Russia on Jan. 4 before the tournament culminates with the gold-medal game at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on Saturday, Jan. 6.